A convicted murderer who absconded while on work release from jail in southern NSW has been recaptured.

A member of the public spotted Adam John Bowhay on Billilingra Road, just south of the township of Bredbo at 11.30am on Thursday.

Police quickly arrived and arrested the 34-year-old without incident. He was taken to Cooma police station and is expected to be charged later on Thursday

Bowhay was less than 30 kilometres from Snowy Oval in Cooma, where he was carrying out community work for the local council before fleeing on Tuesday.

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He recently had his application for parole rejected by the State Parole Authority, after serving his 16-year minimum sentence for the 1997 murder of Steven Jarvis at Casino in northern NSW in 1997.

The body of 42-year-old Mr Jarvis was found in a reserve near the banks of the Richmond River by a couple walking their dog in March 1997. A post-mortem found he had been stabbed six times in the neck.

Bowhay, then aged 18, and his girlfriend had befriended Mr Jarvis at a pub in town the previous night. After he was killed, the pair ransacked their victim's room, taking a small amount of money and a key card which they later tried to use.

They then fled, and were eventually caught in the northern Victorian town of Tallangatta.

At his NSW Supreme Court trial, Bowhay said Mr Jarvis had touched his girlfriend inappropriately.

However, in sentencing Bowhay, Justice John Dunford said the murder was a "deliberate and callous attack on one of the less fortunate members of the community, who was quite incapable of defending himself".